Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 8

In writing his eighth symphony, Bruckner hoped to surpass all that he had previously achieved in the field of the symphony and to do so, moreover, not only in terms of the dimensions of the individual movements but also in the intensity of his expression. He was all the more disappointed, then, when his contemporaries initially rejected the work. He revised the symphony and it was in this reworked version that it enjoyed a triumphant premiere in 1892, proving that the world of music was finally ready to confront the strenuous demands placed upon it by such a large-scale symphony.